The story of the FC Porto coach’s early years told by those who know him well
It was in Ribeira de Frades, a parish in the municipality of Coimbra, that Sérgio Conceição grew up playing football. The talent, innate as they say, later took him to Académica, where he arrived to play for the under-13s. But, at the beginning of it all, it was the vision of a Physical Education teacher who saw in little Sérgio a different aptitude for the ball than the others. Ricardo Namora, son of the teacher who ‘discovered’ Conceição, was a teammate and friend of the now FC Porto coach and explained the Record how things happened.
“My mother was a Physical Education teacher and had a football team, which competed in school sports. Sérgio was part of it and already stood out from the others. He was very competitive and had a different talent. He decided to take him to Académica and they quickly became enchanted with him. He ended up staying and that’s how it all started”, said Ricardo Namora, who, two years later, met Sérgio at Briosa’s youth level: “We played together at Académica and spent a lot of time together. We studied at The same high school and we shared a locker room. It was a very important period in our development, not only on a sporting level but also on a personal level. During those six years we went through a lot and it was the beginning of a friendship that still lasts today.”
Going back to Sérgio Conceição’s past is going back to a time when FC Porto had not yet fully entered the life of one of the most successful coaches in its history. At that time it was Sporting that made Conceição vibrate, something that the coach never hid and that he made a point of explaining with the connection that the lions have with Ribeira de Frades. And with a visit to Alvalade just around the corner, we took the opportunity to understand, together with Ricardo Namora, what the sporting Sérgio was like.
“We all have our childhood passions… Then life leads us to other things. That’s what happened. Sérgio never hid his passion for Sporting and he didn’t have to. It’s something that was part of his growth, but that he never messed with his professionalism. The connection he created later with FC Porto surpassed everything, it was a club he learned to love, to respect”, said Ricardo Namora, explaining later how Sporting came into the life of the now FC Porto coach: “It had a lot to do with how things happen at a local level. Sérgio was born in an area with a lot of sportsism. In fact, Sporting Clube Ribeirense, a club from Ribeira de Frades, is a Sporting team and there was a great tradition of being of Sporting. And those were times when Portismo practically did not exist from Aveiro on down. Therefore, it was naturally that Sérgio grew up as a Sporting fan, the result of influences and traditions. But it is also worth highlighting that he was always a great academic. I believe that at that time he shared his club passion a little.”
Sporting, moreover, was once again very present in the Conceição clan when Francisco, now shining at FC Porto, took his first steps in football in Alcochete. After three years wearing green and white, the winger headed to the North to represent his favorite club, his arrival at the Porto team coinciding with his father’s arrival as coach of the Dragons.
From leadership skills to generosity
Going back to the times in Coimbra, Sérgio Conceição, says those who know him, it was never different from what it is today. Passionate, determined and very connected to his origins. “He stood out and from a certain point it was easy to understand that the leap would happen quickly. Académica had good teams and he was different from the others. As captain, he had very strong leadership, by example. He was competitive, determined and passionate, characteristics that are almost innate in him and that are still evident today”, said Ricardo Namora, adding that this way of being is reflected perfectly in his life today: “He is very connected to his origins, his family, he is very affectionate and passionate about life. Due to his humble roots, he was always very attached to his family and the place where he grew up. He left here very young. This can be seen in the family he built for himself, the way he relates to his wife and with his children, the education he gave them. And, nowadays, it is clear that he is doing well in life. He deserves all the best.”
For Ricardo Namora, who met Sérgio Conceição in his early years in a locker room, at the time, things were already seen that suggested that his path would be to the bank. “It was difficult to imagine that, but at the same time something would already be there… He had the leadership capacity of few, he led by example, he wasn’t one to give many instructions, but it was because of the way he did things, his tenacity, who inspires others. He really enjoyed playing football. I imagined him leaving football at 40 or so. He really enjoyed playing. But I fully admit that he already had some coaching characteristics in him, at the time he didn’t We thought about it a lot”, said the former teammate.
Finally, asked to share with readers of Record, some story he shared with Sérgio Conceição, Ricardo Namora joked that there are “many with balls that cannot be told” and chose to confide an episode that, in his opinion, perfectly portrays the kindness and humility that have always characterized the Your Friend. “There’s one that really impacted me, in which he showed that he was a very special human being and with something he always had, great generosity. Of excellence. We went to play an inter-association tournament. We lost the first game and everything went wrong for me. . I was a striker and, in the second game of the tournament, I scored two goals. In the third and final game, with no aspirations of winning the competition, what we had left was for me to be considered the top scorer. I needed to score a goal . Sérgio, at one point, told me to position myself in a certain place and he would offer me a goal. And so it was. He performed an incredible slalom, left around seven opponents behind and could have scored a goal that, today in One day, it would quickly go viral on the internet. But he didn’t, he came to me and passed the ball to me. I just had to touch him. It was a gesture of generosity that I haven’t forgotten. It says a lot about the person he is and how much he cares with the well-being of others”, said Ricardo Namora. It was in Ribeira de Frades, a parish in the municipality of Coimbra, that Sérgio Conceição grew up playing football. The talent, innate as they say, later took him to Académica, where he arrived to play for the under-13s. But, in the beginning…
By José Miguel Machado
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2023-12-16 10:34:10
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